When Eloisa A. Romero moved to Vermont from California last summer, she had two suitcases filled with books, pictures, clothes, her favorite plush toys and a small statue of the Virgin Mary. And she had a dream. "I'm here for two years, and I need to make the best of it," she remembered thinking. Romero felt conflicted, she recalled, when she found out she'd been accepted into the University of Vermont master's program in higher education and student affairs administration and offered the position of assistant residence director of UVM's Trinity Campus. Leaving California would mean being away from her family for two years. But Romero, an alumna of California State University, Fullerton, knew it would be foolish to pass up what she described as the "opportunity of a lifetime." Her high school guidance counselor had predicted that she wouldn't even make it to college. The odds were stacked against her, she pointed out. Romero, a Latina, grew up as an undocumented immigrant. After marrying her high school sweetheart, a U.S. citizen, late last year, Romero applied for a green card. Less than a week ago while at home in California, she learned that her application had been approved. The Pew Research Center estimates that, in 2015, 11 million unauthorized immigrants resided in the U.S. These immigrants, who had either entered without undergoing an inspection or stayed beyond their date of legal residency, composed 3.4 percent of the country's total population. In Vermont, according to Pew, undocumented immigrants represented 0.3 percent of the population in 2014. Over this past semester, Romero related her story to Seven Days in her office on Trinity Campus. Above the name on her door hung a picture of a young woman in a green graduation gown labeled with the words "undocumented, unafraid and unapologetic." Her notice board was filled with mementos. Among them were a family photo taken at California's Big Bear Lake, a picture of Romero linking arms with a fellow activist as they blocked streets outside a Los Angeles detention center, and a mind map of her dreams and achievements. Romero has always been candid about her immigration status. Besides juggling school, work and family, she's demonstrated a sustained commitment to educating the UVM community about undocumented students. For her advocacy efforts, Romero received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the Mosaic Center for Students of Color Spring Awards Banquet in April.…
When Eloisa A. Romero moved to Vermont from California last summer, she had two suitcases filled with books, pictures, clothes, her favorite plush toys and a small statue of the Virgin Mary. And she had a dream. "I'm here for two years, and I need to make the best of it," she remembered thinking. Romero felt conflicted, she recalled, when she found out she'd been accepted into the University of Vermont master's program in higher education and student affairs administration and offered the position of assistant residence director of UVM's Trinity Campus. Leaving California would mean being away from her family for two years. But Romero, an alumna of California State University, Fullerton, knew it would be foolish to pass up what she described as the "opportunity of a lifetime." Her high school guidance counselor had predicted that she wouldn't even make it to college. The odds were stacked against her, she pointed out. Romero, a Latina, grew up as an undocumented immigrant. After marrying her high school sweetheart, a U.S. citizen, late last year, Romero applied for a green card. Less than a week ago while at home in California, she learned that her application had been approved. The Pew Research Center estimates that, in 2015, 11 million unauthorized immigrants resided in the U.S. These immigrants, who had either entered without undergoing an inspection or stayed beyond their date of legal residency, composed 3.4 percent of the country's total population. In Vermont, according to Pew, undocumented immigrants represented 0.3 percent of the population in 2014. Over this past semester, Romero related her story to Seven Days in her office on Trinity Campus. Above the name on her door hung a picture of a young woman in a green graduation gown labeled with the words "undocumented, unafraid and unapologetic." Her notice board was filled with mementos. Among them were a family photo taken at California's Big Bear Lake, a picture of Romero linking arms with a fellow activist as they blocked streets outside a Los Angeles detention center, and a mind map of her dreams and achievements. Romero has always been candid about her immigration status. Besides juggling school, work and family, she's demonstrated a sustained commitment to educating the UVM community about undocumented students. For her advocacy efforts, Romero received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the Mosaic Center for Students of Color Spring Awards Banquet in April.…